Looking out for the Art Barn

Adrian Van Suchtelen, an award-winning artist who taught in the USU Art Department from 1967 until 2003, shared some of his memories of the Art Barn with us.

Many of Professor Van Suchtelen's memories were about how students, professors, and staff in the Art Barn looked out for one another. He recalled one elderly custodian who, he said, really "cared about the Art Barn. . . . He looked after students; he looked after me; he looked after Larry [Elsner]. He had discovered that this other janitor had been stealing tools. I mean expensive power tools, because sculpture has a lot of expensive tools. And he had been watching him. This guy had figured out how to take the tools and hide them in the garbage can. He would come back later and take them out of the garbage can. But this guy was onto him, and he had taken the tools out of the garbage can before he came back at night. He had saved us, he had saved the Art Department, just a huge amount of money, the way he looked after us. I was so thankful for that, and the students were very excited and thankful about it."

The custodian was elderly and did not have the money for good dental care, so he had lost all his teeth. Professor Van Suchtelen told us, "We decided to have this raffle and this fundraising. I went around my fellow faculty, and they went around to the students, saying, 'We are raising enough money to buy him a set of teeth for Christmas.' And he was so happy. I don't have to tell you. We bought him a set of teeth for Christmas, and it was the best Christmas present that he ever got."

Besides theft, the Art Barn community sometimes had to watch out for other threats. During the revolution in Iran in 1979 there were fears about terrorist attacks even at Utah State. One night someone came into the Art Barn and turned on some gas valves and there were concerns that it could have been the work of would-be terrorists. Professor Van Suchtelen remembers, "If someone had lit a cigarette, and the whole place would have blown up, and there would not have been an Art Barn anymore. I was obliged to warn the students to keep their eyes out for any suspicious happenings, strangers in the Art Barn, etc., and to always be on the lookout."

There were also tensions within the Art Barn community from time to time. "Students would bring in their dogs because we were by ourselves in the Art Barn. It was sort of an isolated place. And one of the custodians had become very annoyed with that idea, so he wrote on the wall, 'No Dogs Allowed' [but he spelled it] A-L-O-U-D. Some student had written, right underneath it, 'And No Dogs A-Quiet Either.' He wrote it in big, big letters."

The Modern Horse Barn

In an earlier post we alluded to an article written in the campus newspaper in 1919 about the Art Barn when it made its debut as the horse barn, replacing the old square "model" horse barn near Old Main. Below is a transcription of that article. It shows the role that USU and its barns played in demonstrating agricultural advancements for the campus and for the larger community of Cache Valley and northern Utah.

Student Life, Logan City, Utah Friday, October 10, 1919 Volume XVIII, Number 4

“Horse Barn is Modern”

“The old students of the school who were not here last year, are no doubt surprised at not seeing such a familiar landmark as the old horse barn. There is now nothing left to show where it stood except a few rocks. No matter what happened to the old barn, a new one has been built to take its place. The new horse barn was built by Alston & Hoggan of Salt Lake City, at a cost of about six thousand dollars. The plans were drawn up by the Animal Husbandry Departments with the assistance of a local architect. It is made to hold eleven horses; there are six individual ventilated stalls, four large rommy[sic] box stalls, running water, grain bins, hay and straw chutes, a harness room and an office. The floors are made of cement, thus making it possible to keep them clean without difficulty. It is newly painted inside and outside giving it a very attractive appearance. Those who have visited it and know what a barn should be seem very well pleased with it. When it was first finished, it was planned to have a real old barn dance in the loft, which has a good hardwood floor, but it had to be used for storing hay, so we may expect this dance to be given later. Those interested in good farm buildings should not miss seeing this one."

Assuming Its Place

Barn research team member Jason Neil has been continuing his research in USU Special Collections and Archives and has uncovered more documents related to the "turf wars" over the space in the Art Barn after it was vacated by the Art Department. In addition to the requests discussed in earlier posts, he also found proposals to turn the Art Barn into a photojournalism lab, a hobby center, or a restaurant and recreation center with a barn theme. From 1977 until 2007, discussions continued about the best ways to use the space in the Art Barn, with frequent changes and remodels made as campus needs changed.

In 2007, the faculty using the third floor of the barn wanted to remodel the south end for offices and a conference room. In the process of considering this remodel, it was found that the building failed to meet several codes, including the ADA and fire codes, and that if they did "anything to the building other than install carpet and apply new paint, the entire building [would] have to be upgraded to comply with current code."

It was suggested that the Art Barn may have "substantially outlived its usefulness," especially since it was never intended "for human occupation," but the project coordinator also recognized, "On the other hand, due to the fact that this building is probably the last remaining vestige of Utah State University's agricultural heritage on main campus, it could be successfully renovated (similar to the Janet Quinney Lawson and Lillywhite buildings) and assume it's [sic] place as a prominent historic building along 700 North. . . . Renovation of the structure could produce a marvelous space and preserve a piece of history for the University."

Click on the image of the USU Archives document below to read more about this pivotal decision in the barn's history.